WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the Syrian civil war deepened and anti-government rebels struggled to unify their fractious forces, the White House early last year quietly convened an elite group of senior policymakers to advise President Barack Obama. Their unusual... More »
DOHA/DUBAI (Reuters) – Qatar may tone down its pushy foreign policy, chastened by setbacks in Syria and Egypt, but is likely to keep supporting Arab Spring revolts and bankrolling Islamist influence, albeit a little more quietly. The tiny state provided much o... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers clashed over Syria, Afghanistan and government spying on Tuesday as the House of Representatives began debating a $598 billion defense spending bill for 2014, including a Pentagon base budget of $512 billion and $86 billio... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will move forward with a plan for the United States to arm the struggling Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased, officials said on Monday. “We believe we are in a position that the administrati... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. military officer said in a letter released on Monday that American forces could undertake a range of missions to help Syrian rebels if asked by the White House, from providing training to establishing no-fly zones or conduct... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional committees are holding up a plan to send U.S. weapons to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because of fears that such deliveries will not be decisive and the arms might end up in the hands of Islamist militan... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The new president of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said on Sunday he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon and change their military situation, which he described as weak. Ahmad Jarba, w... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media on Monday blamed Syrian opposition forces in unusually specific finger pointing for training Muslim extremists responsible for the deadliest unrest in four years in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang. China has tradi... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad’s forces pounded Sunni Muslim rebels in the city of Homs with artillery and from the air on Sunday, the second day of their offensive in central Syria, activists said. They said rebels defending the old center of Hom... More »
BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) – Talks between the United States and Russia to set up a Syrian peace conference produced no deal on Tuesday, with the powers on either side of the two-year civil war failing to agree when it should be held or who would be invited. Saud... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Jordan’s King Abdullah said Syria’s war could ignite a regional sectarian conflict unless global powers helped to convene peace talks soon, a pan-Arab newspaper reported on Wednesday. King Abdullah also said Palestinians could launch an Arab ... More »
BAGHDAD/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Neighboring Iraq warned that Syria’s civil war is tearing the Middle East apart and Lebanon’s president urged his country’s Hezbollah movement on Thursday to pull its fighters out of the conflict. After two years of fighting that has... More »
ENISKILLEN, Northern Ireland/DUBAI (Reuters) – Rebels fought to halt an advance by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces into northern Syria on Monday while U.S. President Barack Obama faced a showdown with Russia’s Vladimir Putin over Obama’s decision last week ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Obama’s decision to arm Syrian rebels for the first time follows an intense, nearly two-year debate within the White House in which the president and his closest advisers consistently expressed skepticism about U.S. interventio... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The number of Syrians trying to enter the European Union illegally increased five-fold last year, an EU agency said on Thursday, as refugees fled their war-ravaged country. Almost 8,000 Syrians without papers, and some with false passports... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – France and Britain failed to persuade the European Union to back their call to lift an arms embargo on Syrian rebels on Friday despite warning that President Bashar al-Assad could resort to using chemical weapons. Paris and London want to ex... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s foreign policy chief urged caution on Saturday about a Franco-British drive to lift an EU arms embargo to help rebels in Syria, questioning the impact such a step might have on attempts to reach a political settlement ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France and Britain want an urgent European Union meeting, possibly this month, to persuade their allies to lift an embargo on supplying arms to the Syrian opposition, France’s foreign minister said on Thursday. The two countries accuse Syrian... More »
LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – Britain and France raised the pressure on other European Union members on Tuesday to lift a ban on supplying arms to Syria, where anti-government rebels are outgunned by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Britain warned that it... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France hinted on Tuesday that it would push to get a European Union arms embargo on Syria lifted, saying the balance of power in the country had to change so President Bashar al Assad understood he could not win by military force. “France is ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Turkey said on Friday anti-government fighters in Syria were at a disadvantage because they weren’t properly armed, and stopped just short of calling for a European Union arms embargo to be lifted. In some of his strongest comments on the su... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union was right not to arm anti-government fighters in Syria as doing so would risk regional “conflagration”, Germany said on Thursday, highlighting divisions in the region over how to handle the Syrian crisis. “The decision of ... More »
Whether Assad chooses “hell” or a democratic transition for his country, Syria’s fate will likely be decided in 2013. Rebels smell victory. Yet opposition forces should be working now to avoid a second hell thereafter. At an Arab League meeting in Cairo this p... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Union leaders are likely to clash over issues ranging from Syria to trade, energy and human rights on Friday when Putin holds his first talks in Brussels since his re-election as president in M... More »
BUCHAREST/BRUSSELS/DUBAI (Reuters) – Two months into anti-government protests in Syria last year, as the military crackdown grew more vicious, the European Union and United States introduced sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad, his security chiefs and ... More »
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Escalating violence in Syria and limited access to civilians in need hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid in the country, the European Union’s crisis chief said on Wednesday. An 18-month uprising against Syrian President Basha... More »
